Beating-reed and beating-reed organ



G. CLOETENS.

BEATING REED AND BEATING REED ORGAN.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE5. 1914.

1,399,462, Patented Dec. 6, 1921.

:1 /l/l/fl/l/Il. 68 w llgi I N VEN TOR. GEORGESCLOETE/YS BY WM ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

BEATIN'G-REED AND BEATING-REED ORG-AN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 6, 1921.

Original application filed March 20, 1911, Serial No. 615,767. Divided and this application filed June 5,

. 1914. Serial No. 843,249.

(GRANTED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1921, 41 STAT. L, 1313.)

To all whom it may conccm:

Be it known that I, Gnonens CLonrENs, a subject of the King of Belgium, residing at Brussels, Belgium, have invented new and useful Improvements in and Relating to Beating-Reeds and Beating-Reed Organs, (for which 1 have filed applications in Belgium, March 22, 1910; England, March 22, 1910; Austria, March 17, 1911; Germany, March 22, 1911; France, March 22, 1911; Italy, March 28, 1911; Switzerland, March 31, 1911, and Dominion of Canada, September 12, 1912,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention is a division of my earlier application, Serial No. 615,767, filed March 20th, 1911, and relates to improvements in reed organs employing beating reeds, and

also to improvements in the beating reeds themselves. One object of the invention is to provide a construction of beating reed and beating reed organs which while simple, shall produce valuable novel musical effects.

The invention consists in the novel combination hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings which accompany the present application, I have illustrated the invention in its application to a beating reed organ which is similar in construction to the reed organ with beating reeds described in my concurrent United States application for patent, Serial No. 615,767, filed March 20th,,

1911. This organ comprises a plurality of reed chambers communicating with a single resonating pipe, and while my invention is described herein with reference to such an organ it will be understood that the improved reed is applicable to any kind of or an.

n the accompanying drawings which illustrate my invention, Figure 1 is a section through a portion of an organ embodying the invention, certain parts being shown diagrammatically.

Fig. 2 shows one side of the parts constituting a reed.

Fig. 3 is a sectional perspective view of a reed chamber.

Fig. 4 illustrates a similar chamber in section, drawn to a larger scale.

The construction here illustrated consists of a plurality of reed tongues 62, preferably formed of a plate of thick glass and hingedly secured in the containing chamber. In the drawings, 13 represents chambers formed by walls 45 provided with inlets and outlets 69, or 71. The inlet 65 may be controlled in well-known manner to admit wind to the reed chambers and as the method of controlling the inlet to the reed chambers is well understood and forms no part of the present invention, I do not described or illustrate same. The outlets 69, 71 open into the commonresonating pipe 16, but it will be understood that this pipe 16 is not essential to the invention, so that the outlet 70, for example, can open into atmosphere. Extending across the chambers 13 are partitions 61 which serve to support the plates 62 and also divide the chambers 43 into two portions, separating the inlets from the outlets.

The construction of the beating reed tongue or plate is shown more clearly in Fig. 4; the plate or tongue 62 is hingedly connected to the partition 61 by means of two pieces of skin or thin leather 72, 78; the piece of skin or thin leather 72 completely covers that face of the plate 62 which comes against the partition 61, and is glued to this face. The piece of skin 73 is glued to the upper part of the plate 62.

The two upper ends of the two pieces of leather 72, 73 are fixed to the partition 61 by means of the cross-piece 67 which is glued or screwed to the partition 61. 63 is a small screw which is screwed in the upper wall of each compartment; for example, by passing through the cross-piece which extends across opening 70 (Fig. 3.) These screws may be adjusted to control the amplitude of vibration of their corresponding plates.

Springs 64 bear upon the plates 62 and maintain them pressed against the partition 61 to close the passages 61 formed in said partition, these springs are either directly supported by one of the walls of its chamber (Fig. 41'), or by means of a special column 68, (Fig. 3).

The operation of the improved form of beating reed and reed organ is as follows:

on air under pressure is selectively admitted through the openings 65 by operating the keys of the instrument, the reed plates or tongues 62 will be opened by the pressure of this air, which passes out through the outlet 70. Immediately the reeds open, they are returned by springsfit, and the rapid succession of these movements produces a full and deep sound. v I

It will be obvious that many modifications and changes may be made in the construction hereinbefore described without departing from the spirit or scope of my invention.

It will beunderstood that the plates 62 may be made ofany suitable rigid material, but glass is preferable because it is not sub- ,ject to curvature and deformations under the influence of atmospheric conditions. This condition is necessary, n order that the v plate Gama always come absolutely fiat against the partition.

Beatin reeds constructed in accordance with the invention areespecially suitable for low sounds and permit'of producing perfectly'all the tones of the chromatic scale.

What Ic laim is:

1. A reed organcomprising a plurality of chambers each with an inlet and an'outlet,

a partition in each chamber located between 1 the inlet and the outlet and having a passage through it, a hinged rigid plate in each chamber spring-pressed to close the passage, said plates and springs being tuned to give the notes of a musical scale.

2. A reed organ comprising a plurality of chambers each with an inlet and an outlet, a partition in each chamber located between the inletand outlet and having apassage through it, a hinged glass plate in each chamber, springpressed to close the passage, 

